Three days before Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Detroit as part of his ‘outreach’ to African-American voters, we discover that he won’t actually be speaking to a black audience. As reported by the Detroit Free Press, the GOP nominee will instead attend a service at a predominately black church before doing a one-on-one interview with Bishop Wayne T. Jackson that will be taped and aired about a week later.

Jackson, a prosperity gospel televangelist who runs the Impact Network, said he was fine with Trump’s decision to not address the congregation. (This whole thing was arranged by Pastor Mark Burns, a Trump surrogate who also happens to be a black televangelist preaching the prosperity gospel.)

“He’ll be here Saturday. He’s going to sit in service and have the experience in the black church, and then he and I will be in this office and do an interview for the Impact Network that will be aired later on,” Jackson said. “Just like any visitor, there will be fellowship at the service, and he can talk to people one-on-one.”

Jackson said he wasn’t disappointed that Trump won’t be speaking directly to the voters in his congregation. He said his interview was the same thing.

“My congregation trusts my judgment. They know that I’m not going to put anything or anyone in front of them that I feel is going to be harmful, and I feel we should have an educated conversation about what you’re going to do,” he said.

“He will be talking to voters just like when he sits down with any news agency, like CNN. Every time he’s on Fox or MSNBC, he’s talking to voters.”

The whole ‘he talks to voters when he does TV interviews’ excuse is one that has been very popular with Trump surrogates lately in the face of criticism that the real estate mogul only speaks in front of nearly all-white crowds in areas lacking in diversity. So it isn’t surprising to see Jackson toss that out to the Free Press.

But, at the very least, if Trump isn’t going to have the balls to speak to a black crowd, shouldn’t the interview at least be in front of an audience? Even if taped to air later, have it open to the press and public. It appears that many in Detroit and within Jackson’s congregation feel the same way.

Bishop Jackson, who is interviewing Trump in Detroit on Saturday, getting hammered on his Facebook page. pic.twitter.com/Yxt422CAlc

Justin Baragona is the founder and publisher of Contemptor. He was previously the Cable News Correspondent for Mediaite and prior to starting Contemptor, he worked on the editorial staff of PoliticusUSA. During that time, he had his work quoted by USA Today and BBC News, among others. Justin began his published career as a political writer for 411Mania. He resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife and pets.